Dangerous within 1.5 miles
Like most of you I have seen this warning on .22 rimfire all of my life. So has this ever been tested? :Blasting_
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Like most of you I have seen this warning on .22 rimfire all of my life. So has this ever been tested? :Blasting_
God Bless, Frank.
I heard on the news the other day a woman woke up with a headache and found she had been struck by a 9mm round that ricocheted off her skull and exited her eyebrow I believe. They said someone arguing a mile away had fired the gun and the bullet travelled that far and through the wall of her house striking her in the head. I believe a .22 fired 1.5 miles away without any interuption in between could have deadly consequences. I'd like to see the Mythbusters take a crack at it.
This is just a guess on my part, but I'm thinking the .22LR, at 1.5 miles is pretty much at the outer limit of it's "harmfulness" potential.
If you were given the job of figuring out how far a round could be considered harmful and then printing that number on each box of ammo, would you err on the conservative side? I would.
If you were given the job of figuring out how far a round could be considered harmful and then printing that number on each box of ammo, would you err on the conservative side? I would.
From my trusty NRA firearms fact book-the 22LR 40 gr lead bullet at 1255 fps will travel 4870 feet and would still have a striking energy of 5 ft/lbs- the equivalent of a #2 lead shot from a 3" mag. shotgun at 50 yds probably not lethal but still dangerous. Hatcher conducted tests in the 20's and 30's on extreme range of different cartridges his book " Hatchers Notebook" is a good read
If you run thru a ballistics program you will see that the max a .22LR will travel before it hits the ground is somewhere between 1000 and 1200 yards regardless of the angle fired. The chances that it will carry any lethal force beyond that distance and after striking dirt or a tree is very slim. 1200 yards is less than 3/4 mile. At that range it's dropping down at almost a 45 deg angle making significant ricochets almost impossible. It's 100 million to 1 that any .22LR bullet would ever make it past 1 mile. Most won't make it 1/2 that far.
It seems to me that when I was of a younger nature, long ago, that the warning was "Dangerous within one mile". I am getting old, and the memory ain't what it used to be, but that's what I remember. Maybe some other "experienced" members can set me straight.
Also, probably twenty years ago, when I was just a "plinker" with a 22, I was shooting tin cans in the farm field behind my house. As I was shooting, I noticed that every shot would kick up a little cloud of dust in the field. It had been tilled, and planted a few days before, so was just bare dirt. This got me thinking about the warning under discussion.
Being of a curious nature scientifically, I decided to try an experiment. The field was open and worked up for over a half mile, so I started shooting for effective range. I would fire a shot, and watch for the poof of dust, and gradually increase the elevation as I shot.
Well, to make a too long story short, the best I could get was just under a half mile. I couldn't tell you exactly the angle I ended up at, but it was somewhere around 45 degrees, perhaps. There's probably a optimum angle, but I don't know ballistics well enough to say what it is.
Please don't take this as proof of anything......I'm just sayin'. :hide:
Also, probably twenty years ago, when I was just a "plinker" with a 22, I was shooting tin cans in the farm field behind my house. As I was shooting, I noticed that every shot would kick up a little cloud of dust in the field. It had been tilled, and planted a few days before, so was just bare dirt. This got me thinking about the warning under discussion.
Being of a curious nature scientifically, I decided to try an experiment. The field was open and worked up for over a half mile, so I started shooting for effective range. I would fire a shot, and watch for the poof of dust, and gradually increase the elevation as I shot.
Well, to make a too long story short, the best I could get was just under a half mile. I couldn't tell you exactly the angle I ended up at, but it was somewhere around 45 degrees, perhaps. There's probably a optimum angle, but I don't know ballistics well enough to say what it is.
Please don't take this as proof of anything......I'm just sayin'. :hide:
someone over here asked that question but with 223. namely the use of using 223 to shoot birds out of trees. theres been a few close calls from dumb @#$s that have done that.
one of the replies was that the USA army did a test years ago on a lake. firing a 221 cal odd some description. interestingly it only went a couple of miles.
can anyone confirm that story and if so did they test any other cals?
one of the replies was that the USA army did a test years ago on a lake. firing a 221 cal odd some description. interestingly it only went a couple of miles.
can anyone confirm that story and if so did they test any other cals?
Well, 1.5 miles is a fair distance I think. It keeps Murphy out of the equation anyway. Up until a few years back there were some ballistics experts working for the Army out in the desert SW that thought the famed Billy Dixon shot was baloney until some non-experts showed up and ran some loads for them...and provided them with some historical Army research. Today, 1 mile shoots with BPCR are not uncommon. The photos below sprang forth from the Kenny Wasserberg 1 Mile Shoot about a year or two back.
Another minor factoid:
On September 25, 1990, Kelly Murray set a Guinness World Record by hitting a golf ball 684.8 yards
If you do a bit of minor research on the Sandy Hook test you will find the load in question had a great deal more potential for lethality than the .45 ACP at the muzzle when it impacted. I treat the .22 RF in all of its various forms with the same respect I'd give a CF rifle. That includes BB and CB caps, with which I have dispatched squirrels, possum, raccoons and a couple of feral cats. The thought isn't so much what is probable, it is what's possible.
I would add only this last thought. The only thing I'm aware of that will, with near absolute certainty, not reach beyond a mile, is shot or small caliber round balls. All but the largest sizes of bird shot will not reach beyond 400 yards under any circumstances. Buck shot can reach out to around 800 yards but that's about it. Small shot, such as used under NSSA rules will not surpass 300 yards in any circumstances and that is #7.5 and smaller shot. Actually, it will seldom extend beyond 200 yards.
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After the Sandy Hook tests of 1879, a new variation of the .45-70 cartridge was produced, the .45-70-500, which fired a heavier 500 grain (32.5 g) bullet. The heavier bullet produced significantly superior ballistics, and could reach ranges of 3,500 yards (3200 m)
Another minor factoid:
On September 25, 1990, Kelly Murray set a Guinness World Record by hitting a golf ball 684.8 yards
If you do a bit of minor research on the Sandy Hook test you will find the load in question had a great deal more potential for lethality than the .45 ACP at the muzzle when it impacted. I treat the .22 RF in all of its various forms with the same respect I'd give a CF rifle. That includes BB and CB caps, with which I have dispatched squirrels, possum, raccoons and a couple of feral cats. The thought isn't so much what is probable, it is what's possible.
I would add only this last thought. The only thing I'm aware of that will, with near absolute certainty, not reach beyond a mile, is shot or small caliber round balls. All but the largest sizes of bird shot will not reach beyond 400 yards under any circumstances. Buck shot can reach out to around 800 yards but that's about it. Small shot, such as used under NSSA rules will not surpass 300 yards in any circumstances and that is #7.5 and smaller shot. Actually, it will seldom extend beyond 200 yards.
1.5 miles is true, with a high velocy round nose round. And if you hit water just right it will go further too. I have tried this on our family hunting ground. We drove out 1, 1.5 and two miles and with a day and 1/2 of screwing around and trying about 50 different types of round we could hit just over 1.5 miles.
Note: we had a good tail wind and no side winds.
We could consistanly get to 1 mile but only hit over 1.25 miles three times, and 1.5 mile mark twice. So I am not sure if its even true or some bird pooped in our pond when we shot and made a splash, but I will think we hit it!
We had a ton of fun shooting and that what its all about!
Just my 2 cents.
Note: we had a good tail wind and no side winds.
We could consistanly get to 1 mile but only hit over 1.25 miles three times, and 1.5 mile mark twice. So I am not sure if its even true or some bird pooped in our pond when we shot and made a splash, but I will think we hit it!
We had a ton of fun shooting and that what its all about!
Just my 2 cents.
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It seems to me that when I was of a younger nature, long ago, that the warning was "Dangerous within one mile". I am getting old, and the memory ain't what it used to be, but that's what I remember. Maybe some other "experienced" members can set me straight.
When I saw they had increased the warning to 1 1/2 mile I guessed someone had been injured at over 1 mile.
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Your memory is just perfect. Ain't it nice to find out you are "right" once in a while?:)
When I saw they had increased the warning to 1 1/2 mile I guessed someone had been injured at over 1 mile.
When I saw they had increased the warning to 1 1/2 mile I guessed someone had been injured at over 1 mile.
similar incident locally about 6 years ago.
girls softball game going on when suddenly the pitcher grabs her necks and scream...ump runs out and it is bleeding...third base girl runs over and suddenly screams and grabs her back, big bruise look, no blood. Then the UMP jumps and grabs his back and looks down to see a 22 bullet on the dirt.
Game is halted, everyone clears the field and the cops are called...no houses near the field and the cops fan out...two teenage boys are shooting frogs in a pond nearly a mile away and the bullets are ricocheting off the water and heading into the ball field...luckily no one was seriously hurt...boys were taken home by cops and left with parents...gun was given back to parents.
girls softball game going on when suddenly the pitcher grabs her necks and scream...ump runs out and it is bleeding...third base girl runs over and suddenly screams and grabs her back, big bruise look, no blood. Then the UMP jumps and grabs his back and looks down to see a 22 bullet on the dirt.
Game is halted, everyone clears the field and the cops are called...no houses near the field and the cops fan out...two teenage boys are shooting frogs in a pond nearly a mile away and the bullets are ricocheting off the water and heading into the ball field...luckily no one was seriously hurt...boys were taken home by cops and left with parents...gun was given back to parents.
Whatever distance the .22 will go only goes to show that you must be sure of your backstop! If you don't know what you are shooting at, or shooting into. don't shoot!
John
John
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If you run thru a ballistics program you will see that the max a .22LR will travel before it hits the ground is somewhere between 1000 and 1200 yards regardless of the angle fired. .